A fear of physical contact leading to accusations of sexual abuse is one of the main reasons for a lack of men teaching in primary schools, a new research shows.

A report prepared for the Primary Teachers' Union and New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI), finds there are far more women primary teachers than men and the numbers of male teachers teaching in primary schools are falling.

Between 1992 and 2001, the number of women primary teachers increased by 13 percent while the number of male teachers fell by 9 percent, says the report which was presented at the on-going NZEI annual meeting in Wellington on Monday.

Author Ian Livingstone, an independent education consultant and former director of the Council for Education Research, told the meeting that the gender imbalance highlighted a "major concern" for primary education.

He said that men were worried that any physical contact with young pupils could be misconstrued in light of "very high exposure media cases" of child abuse.

An ageing teaching workforce, particularly among men, and a " considerable reduction" in the number of male teachers entering primary education contrasted sharply with an increase in women teachers, he said.

"That obviously means there is an increasing imbalance," Livingstone said. "Men now are approximately only 18 percent of the primary teaching workforce in New Zealand."

Ideally, the school environment should be a reflection of society. "Society is a diverse place and primary schools should reflect that," he said.

He said research in New Zealand and overseas showed the benefits of having more men in primary teaching were: enhancing boys' motivation to achieve academically; providing more male role models for boys and help counter behaviour such as bullying; and making teaching more representative of the community.

Livingstone said his report also found men viewed primary teaching as a low status job because the profession had a high proportion of women. Men also considered primary teachers'pay was too low.

The terms of reference for his report, commissioned by the men' s caucus of NZEI, was not to come up with solutions.

"It's something the NZEI, the colleges of education and indeed the Ministry of Education itself will need to address," Livingstone said.

"In my view it would be highly desirable to recruit more men into teaching and in particular to find ways of keeping them," he said.

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